


Stop Being So Damn Polite!

by MechanistGamma



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types, Sonic: What If?
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Lost Hex, Nail Polish, Silent Forest, Zeena has a breakdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:08:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23825812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MechanistGamma/pseuds/MechanistGamma
Summary: --- A fanfiction set in The Sega Scourge's 'What If Espio Was Trained By Master Zik?' universe. ---Espio's training under Master Zik is hard enough without the other Zeti interfering. When Zeena makes a request of Espio, however, he's obliged to cooperate. When Espio and Zeena actually get a chance to talk, however, things go a different direction than anyone was expecting.(For the best experience, please watch the first episode of 'What If Espio Was Trained By Master Zik?' before reading!)
Relationships: Espio the Chameleon/Zeena
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Stop Being So Damn Polite!

“You. Stop standing around.”

Espio the Chameleon quickly opened his right eye, looking over. He was in the midst of his meditation, his arms held up to his sides and his legs crossed in the perfect balance. The ninja was currently sitting on the edge of a rock… or above it, rather, as the lower end of his bo staff was balanced on the tip of the rock while he meditated on top of the upper end of the staff. With his eye open, he kept his balance as his scrying eye looked over at the figure who was talking to him.

Of course it was Zeena. The only female Zeti crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the foreigner. With a sigh, Espio opened both eyes and lowered his concentration. “How can I help you, Zeena?” he asked.

In all his time in the Lost Hex, he had yet to be once treated like an equal. As expected, due to his status as an outsider. As the only sentient life that wasn’t a Zeti, Espio’s three years on the Lost Hex had been filled with ridicule and antagonization from the Deadly Six. He was used to it by this point. As such, the snark in Zeena’s voice was nothing new to him.

“You’re coming with me, surface-dweller.” Zeena ordered, looking up at him. The look in her eyes was a bored one.

With a sigh, Espio stood up and hopped off his staff. Putting the bo staff on his back once again, he gave Zeena a look. “Where to?”

“Silent Forest. We’re finding some special flowers.” Zeena said. Espio knew well that the Silent Forest was the most dangerous region of the Lost Hex save for Lava Mountain itself, and had to question what Zeena wanted from there. What flowers would be important enough to traverse that region?

He didn’t question her, however, following his superior. The planetoid’s many hidden passageways were second nature to the Zeti… and thanks to Zik’s training, to Espio as well. What would normally be a half-day’s travel took only an hour. On the way, Espio felt Zeena’s eyes on him every so often, as if weighing him up. _Does she plan to attack me upon isolating us from the rest of the Zeti?_ He questioned. The entire journey, he kept his hands close together. If need be, his kunai would be in hand in a moment…

But the wariness was not needed. The walk there was quiet and calm, despite the antsy grunts Zeena gave off every so often. Eventually they reached a large field of flowers. “The flowers here are special.” Zeena said. “You pull one out, it drops the seeds to make more. Crushing them up and soaking the substance leaves behind some really nice nail polish. It’s the only stuff I use.”

“Because you don’t have access to the nail polish of the lower world, correct?”

“Well… _yeah._ But that stuff’s inferior anyways.”

With a quiet nod, Espio moved to grab a blue flower. When Zeena reacted in slight surprise, however, he stopped.

“Why are you grabbing that one?”

“Your pattern for your nail polish is typically a reverse rainbow.” Espio said. “With the exception of yellow, you tend to go from pink, violet, indigo, cyan, lime green, orange and red before a simple black and a return to pink. You’re fairly consistent. Your current nails are indigo. As such, you’ll be wanting the cyan blue flowers.”

“That’s… really observant.” Zeena was surprised. Espio had hit the nail on the head, clearly. “Hey, how do you know so much about my fashion style? Have you been spying on me?”

“Not a chance.” Espio shook his head. “I am merely observant. After three years of sharing the spotlight with you, the nail polish pattern is the least of the details I have picked up on.”

“So what, you’re making files on us or something?”

“Mental ones, yes.”

Zeena scoffed. “Why do you even care about what I do?”

“A person’s habits can tell you a lot about them. For instance, you care a lot about your self-image.”

Zeena tightened her hand. “So what? You think you know me?”

Espio took a deep breath, the blue flower in hand. “Yes, actually.”

“Then tell me what the hell you think you know about me.”

Espio turned to face Zeena, completely serious. “Zeena of the Zeti. Third in command, as were Zavok and Master Zik out of the picture you would be the only one capable of leading your fellows. You always act like you’re better than everyone else in order to give off the aura that you are superior to them, in an attempt to make them submit to you. You have little care for combat, resulting in an utter boredom with your peers as they share no interests with you and have nothing new to introduce you to.”

“You care about how you appear to others so much you will delay a meeting to improve your own appearance, even if the only ones who see you are the ones you’ve known for centuries. You know that if you show even a moment of weakness, you will be considered the foolish female that the misogynistic among the Zeti would label you as and the weakling that the strong among the Zeti would seek to oppress.” 

“You maintain your mask so heavily because you know that removing it among the crowd you spend every day with would result in the utter ruination of the life you seek so hard to build.”

Completely nonchalantly, Espio crushed the flower in his hand. Using the palm of his right hand as a cup, he used his left hand to ground the blue flower into a fine paste. “I assume you have some form of transport for the nail polish, Zeena?”  
  
What Espio had said so nonchalantly had utterly dumbfounded Zeena. The Zeti was taken aback. Indeed, Espio’s words had hit true… and broken through her mask.   
  
“You think you’re SO SMART, HUH?!”   
  
Zeena suddenly stormed towards Espio, grabbing his shoulders. She pulled him close, their foreheads touching. “Master Zik’s new protege, doing the same regiment as we did in a quarter the time and still getting time to meditate alone on a mountain and go over all the little details no one would notice that you’ve filed away about us!”   
  
Espio was unphased, keeping the front end of his feet on the ground. “Meditation is part of the training-”   
  
“Yeah, I put on a mask in front of all those idiots! What’s it to you?!” Zeena growled. “You think I can’t beat you into the dirt right here? HUH? YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN ME BECAUSE YOU’RE _NICE?_ ”   
  
Espio took a moment to pause. It was better to let Zeena have her spat now, compared to interrupting her.   
  
“Well? You wanna go, right here? These things’ll grow back - I’ve got no problem with crushing you for the sake of my pride!”   
  
Espio remained quiet. After a few more moments of the angry Zeena holding his shoulders, she pushed him back and turned around as if to leave. “You’re just… just an outsider. What could you know-”   
  
“I apologize, Zeena.”   
  
“You-” Zeena turned around towards Espio, surprise and shock once again on her face. “The hell do you mean you _apologize_ ?!”   
  
“In my eagerness to respond to your question, I… phrased things poorly.” Espio said. “I knew you cared about your mask, but I did not know removing it against your will would affect you so much. I apologize for being insensitive.”   
  
“You… you apologize for-” A slight laugh came from Zeena. “What the hell? You’re over here giving me a psychoanalysis and you _apologize_ for being _insensitive?_ This is the Lost Hex, Espio! We don’t treat you nice. You shouldn’t treat _us_ nice.”   
  
Espio took a deep breath. “Zeena… If you would allow me to give you a piece of advice?”   
  
If this was anyone else, Zeena would have instantly told him to shut it. Who thinks they can give Zeena advice for how to live her life? But… it was Espio. He understood her. He actually knew the person she was, despite how much she’d hidden it.

“...yeah, sure.”  
  
“You shouldn’t confuse being nice for being weak. Perhaps that would aid your inner turmoil.”   
  
Yet again, Espio had surprised Zeena. “And how do you figure that?”   
  
“Despite my keeping of a polite tone throughout our conversation since we arrived at this field, I have been the one leading the conversation.”   
  
That caused Zeena to think. Had Espio been playing her the whole time? Was this all just a mind game? But no… It was Espio pushing the conversation forward. Despite this being a situation he had no knowledge of before they arrived.   
  
“Zeena?”   
  
Espio’s calling of her name snapped her back to reality. “Y-yes?”

“With that finished, perhaps we should conclude our task. Do you have a form of carrying the paste?” Espio gestured towards his right hand. “I cannot hold this forever…”  
  
“Oh, of course.” Zeena quickly pulled out a stone container. “Right in here.”   
  
Espio dumped it in. “I will collect as much as possible for you, Zeena. You may rest for the time being, if you wish.”   
  
“I think I will.” Zeena scoffed, walking over to a tree and laying down. She watched as Espio did his work, keeping a close eye on it. Despite it being the first time he had ever done such a task, he did it elegantly and quickly - snapping up the right color of flower the instant he neared it, crushing it quickly and depositing it within the container. He wasn’t flawless, however - Zeena let a chuckle escape her when some of the paste dropped onto Espio’s foot, forcing him to clean it off his toe with a leaf.   
  
As she watched, she started picking up on the minor details. The way he avoided walking on a single flower without even looking where his feet were stepping on the ground, how his eyes took only a moment to dart from one side of the field to another. How he checked the quality of the flowers before pulling them, ensuring they weren’t too old or too young. Espio knew exactly what to do. A master of adaptability.   
  
Perhaps that was why Zik saw so much potential in him?   
  
As Zeena watched him work, she started to think. Espio… he _understood_ her. Their conversations so far had been rare and one-sided. This was the first time she could ever remember entertaining a full discussion with Espio. He was intelligent, truly. A genius at conversation. But she could hear in his tone that just behind his calm, polite tone lay hidden feelings he chose to bury. Good? Bad? She couldn’t tell. But Espio was hiding something.   
  
Soon enough, he returned with the container filled. “This should be all that will be needed for the time being.”   
  
“...thanks, Espio.”   
  
Now that took him aback. Zeena was thanking him? Perhaps his words actually were taken to heart. Zeena took the container, quickly lidding it. “I’ll handle the rest of the process from here. If you need to explain to Zik why you weren’t meditating, just tell him to come find me. I took your time, and that’s my bad.”   
  
“Lowering your mask from time to time is a good thing, Zeena.” Espio smiled. Genuinely. “If you ever wish to have someone you can talk to in earnest, I will listen.”   
  
“Don’t get me wrong.” She turned back to look at him, jutting a finger at his nose. “You’re still a dirty outsider. But… a very perceptive one. I don’t respect you, Espio. I… can’t respect you.”   
  
The implication behind that wording was obvious to the chameleon.   
  
“But I’ll take you up on that offer.” Zeena turned to head back. “And I’ll pay you back for today.”   
  
“Pay back?”   
  
“I’ll be taking that mask off _your_ face, next time.”   
  
With a devious smile on her face, Zeena leapt away. Espio let out a sigh, looking back over the flower field. This would be a place to remember for certain. At heart, Espio knew that Zeena was still evil. All of the Zeti were.   
  
But maybe he could save Zeena from the darkness with a little bit of compassion.   
  
Taking only a moment to wind himself up, Espio leapt after Zeena, headed back to the rest of the Zeti.

**Author's Note:**

> Two works in one day? I haven't written like this in a year!  
> "Stop Being So Damn Polite!" is a story I thought up the concept for a week and a half ago, after the release of Scourge's latest Sonic: What If?. After thorough discussion within the Sega Scourge's Discord server, a good portion of the community's really interested in seeing the potential of what the dynamic between Zeena and Espio could be like there. This fic was made in an attempt to answer that question. Also just a fun writing exercise to see whether or not I can actually write these two!  
> "Stop Being So Damn Polite!" is a one-shot, so like with "Chaos Factor, Phantom Film", don't expect this to become a series. ...unless you guys would want such a thing? There's a few names in the Sega Scourge's server who I'd be interested in collaborating with to make the story of Hex Espio a full in-depth fanfiction. For the time being, though, I'm leaving this story as a oneshot... primarily because it's going to be hard enough to update A Bond Between Time And Space!  
> Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you next time!


End file.
